


One Track Heart

by EffectCollector



Category: SD Gundam Force
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Canon Rewrite, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-22
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 16:35:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,358
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18553600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EffectCollector/pseuds/EffectCollector
Summary: An attempt at a rewrite for the anime 'SD Gundam Force' from the POV of a mechanic and coder already within the S.D.G. Discontinued as the POV character has been moved to her own original work.





	1. To Start A War

People in the past used to always wonder if a utopia was actually possible. A place of peace, without terrible struggles and a lack of fighting. Could such a place void of these things really exist? In a way, it did. Time passed, and soon a city arose as this utopia - at least, in terms of man and machine. Neotopia is a vast city where humans and robots of all sorts could live together harmoniously, symbolized by the two branching towers standing in the center of the city. Everything seemed perfect to its residents, no doubt.

  
Though, there was a side to the city that they didn't know. Resting high in the mostly clear blue sky was a cloud that always seemed to be somewhere in the sky, whether they knew it or simply never noticed. A metallic fortress, made to look like water vapor made visible through the laws of physics, where secrets were being kept under lock and key. Some were guardians, vigilant observers, mechanics, even scientists, all staying within the cloud-like fortress.

  
The tapping of keys was the only sound in this room within the fortress, empty save for the computer set up inside and the pieces of robotic parts resting in an organized mess. One woman was typing away, lines of characters and symbols scrolling by lazily as she did so. She was unmoving, save for the dark brown eyes that scanned the screen before her. Her hair was a mess of deep waves, long enough to reach her mid-back and only barely out of her face, save for the bangs resting on her forehead. Like the room, she was clad mostly in white, a shiny badge hanging carelessly off a loose belt at her hip.

  
Finally, she moved, a sigh as her hands moved away from the keys. A few clicks, and the code on the screen was soon gone. Finally, that artificial intelligence was coded to function properly, and was sent to the head mechanic for him to install. She stood, arms raising to the ceiling.

  
"Finally done with that..." she mutters as she stretches her limbs out, "Maybe I should give Prio a call, see what he's up to..."

  
Of course, her thoughts were interrupted by a blaring alarm. A red light dyed the white walls, and the woman's calm demeanor changed. Without hesitating, she rushed out the automatic door of her workshop, going as fast as her legs could carry her. Had it finally began? The alarm wouldn't have gone off for nothing, she knew that for a fact. Something had to have happened, the very thing she and everyone else was preparing for.

  
The woman ran out to the large control room, the siren still blaring in the ears of her and everyone else there. Her attention immediately went to another woman clad in a white and blue uniform, her dark hair cut fairly short. She was staring at a holographic screen, different windows all active at once.  
"Juli!" she calls out and easily gets the other woman's attention, "Is it true? Did they really come?"

  
"Yes, Haruko." the other woman answers with a nod of her head, "We presume the Dark Axis has launched an attack. Captain Gundam just arrived at the scene." Haruko's expression changed slightly, less worry and more determination was found in her eyes.

  
"Is there a gunperry getting ready to bring some of the GMs to investigate?"

"Yes, but-" Juli was interrupted with a 'thanks' as the dark-eyed mechanic began to rush away, "Haruko, wait! Don't tell me you actually plan to go there."

  
"I have to," Haruko glanced over her shoulder to the concerned woman, "I spent months setting up his artificial intelligence, working on his combat, and helping Kao Lyn to make 'it'. I need to be there." With that, Haruko continued on out of Juli's sight and back into the base's labyrinth of halls and corridors. After some winding turns and an elevator ride or two, the large red and black air carrier came into sight, as well as her motorcycle. Silently, she moved the smaller vehicle inside, accompanied by the blue GM bots that acted as employees of the organization. Thankfully, it wasn't in their protocol right now to stop licensed personnel, or else she'd be out of luck.

  
The mechanic was silent as the carrier's gate was raised up, enclosing herself and the GMs inside. Soon, there was a shift that made her nearly stumble and fall; no doubt, they had taken off. She could feel as the gunperry moved, and once it was eventually stable again with another sudden shift, she was sure they had landed. Just as the gunperry's gate begins to open, the communicator on her wrist began to go off with a beeping akin to an alarm clock. Quickly, her other hand raises and she answers.

  
"Haruko Zhang, artificial intelligence mechanic."

  
"Haruko, you left in the gunperry, didn't you?" The voice on the other side didn't seem too happy about it either. _Dammit, it was the chief..._

  
"I'm sorry, sir. I couldn't just stand by, so I'll accept any penalty for leaving unannounced." the young mechanic responds. There is a pause before the chief replies, however, catching Haruko off guard.

  
"We can discuss that on your return," he says, "Right now, we need you to go find Captain Gundam. He's gone offline, and we've lost his location."

  
Gone offline? What the hell could have caused something like that? They had built his structure and armor to be extremely resilient using a new material recently discovered - a metal called gundamium - that shouldn't have happened. Still, now she had all the more reason to be down on the ground. She had to locate Captain Gundam, and make sure he was properly repaired if he needed damage fixed.

  
"Understood, sir. I'll update you when I find him."she says, and the connection goes silent. Wasting no time, she gets into place on the bike. Revving its engine, she speeds off, catching a glimpse of the GM bots headed to the site of the battle to aid a few police bots. The surrounding ground was charred, and some of the ground even looking as if it had been turned to stone. She could hardly believe it, who could do such a thing? Just what was it that they were up against?

  
Her gaze snapped back to the road in front of her, and the bike sped up, away from the destruction. For hours she was riding around, first hitting less populated areas of Neotopia before going to more condensed parts, hyper-vigilant of any sign of the gundam she'd helped create. Soon, the bright sky turned into a sunset, then a blanket of ink as the stars and moon gazed down at the Earth from above. Even then, she was still searching, until she got to one of the factories. It was the last place to look, what if he wasn't here-?

  
The air began to shift, and the hairs on the back of Haruko's neck stood on end. Perplexed, her eyes rose to the starry sky and her jaw fell agape ever so slightly. A strange plasma-like energy formed in the sky, almost as if it were a portal of some sort. Perplexity turned to fear as a menacing ship fazed into view, and she knew immediately; she had to get out of sight. The engine revved once more, and the mechanic hid herself away behind one of the factory walls.

  
Dark eyes watched in anticipation as the red airship shakily landed, and she wasn't the only one to notice it. The construction bots operating around the factory took notice too, though they didn't stop operating the machinery. Well, all but one that fell while yelling 'falling'. Though, her attention was ripped away from the civilian robots when she heard a voice spewing angry threats. It came from the ship she had seen; he was dark crimson in color, save for a few yellow horns here and there, one pink optic resting above a gas mask-like mouthpiece as if he were a cyclops. Haruko tore her gaze away from the singular eye, the strange bot pulling out two rifles, instructing the smaller, green bots that all had the same mouthpiece and singular eye. Honestly, they looked old-timey soldiers.

  
"Come on, you metal trash cans, turn them into scrap!" the red robot barks, and the soldiers were quick to begin shooting their blasters at the civilian robots. Haruko could hardly believe her her eyes, dark irises widening in anger and fear, her brow furrowing. These malicious blocks of metal and wires, how could they attack another like this?! Without peeling her eyes away from the scene before her, a hand reached over to grab the blaster at her side-

  
...Shit, where was her blaster?! Did she leave it at her workshop-? _Oh, just great..._

  
Cursing under her breath, Haruko grabbed a handful of rocks on the concrete ground below her. She knew she couldn't stand by idly as others were hurt, even if she was currently defenseless against their shining bullets. Poking her head out from behind the walls, she got off the motorcycle and aimed. Gathering as much strength as she could muster, the mechanic hurled the stones at the strange, soldier-like robots.

  
With a few loud clangs, a few of the rocks hit the unfamiliar bots. Ceasing their fire, their singular eyes found the human. Taking that as her cue to hide, Haruko darted away. tearing her eyes away from the scene once more. However, once she was sure no one was chasing after her, the woman's dark gaze fixated on what was ahead. Mixed in with the sight of green and orange, she found a spec of white and blue, protecting the defenseless construction workers.

  
_Captain Gundam._

  
Haruko breathed a sigh of relief, more than glad to see the mech relatively unharmed. Though, where was his shield? His armor could withstand a lot, but as he was, it was too dangerous! No matter what, she had to get them both out of there while still managing to stop these enemies, but how was she going to manage that? She was only one human! Well, she could only suppose the rock throwing idea was all she had right now.

  
Haruko continued to grab stones, tossing them at the enemy and hiding away, repeating this over and over again. Whether Captain could take notice of it, she had no idea, but it was then that something stopped her. It was a voice, sounding like it was a kid at that, calling out to get a "Mr Classified Guy"'s attention. Frantically, she searched for the source of the voice, and she was right; it was a brown haired boy, no older than ten or eleven years old if she had to guess. What was he carrying- Wait, was that Captain's shield?! No way...but, how could some _kid_  get a hold of it?

  
Haruko could only watch as the kid tossed the metallic shield to Captain, using the momentum from skating there to do so, and the gundam catches it with ease just in time to block more of the bullets from the Dark Axis soldiers. Deciding it'd be best to stay out of sight, she ducked away again, but continued to observe the battle. Right now, it was all she could really do right now.

  
The enemy's leader barked another order into something he had in his hand, and the strange ring reappeared in the sky moments later. He said something about a laser, and it all began to click in the brunette woman's mind; a blast from a large laser would surely be enough to temporarily put Captain out of commission and cause that huge crater from before. No doubt, it could happen again and not only would she have to go looking for the gundam again, but the damage would be so much more severe. There may not even be a Captain Gundam to find. However, as she watched, the unthinkable happened. The boy was cheering on Captain, despite the danger he was very clearly in, and the band on her wrist began to sound off.

  
It was a function Haruko had put in to monitor Captain's soul drive, a key component of his system in both artificial intelligence and unlocking the most potential he had in terms of battle. It was activating, something that had never been seen even by its creators, herself included. Jaw partially open, her eyes fixated on the scene again as the beeping continued to sound. One of Captain's fists began to glow with a yellow light, his eyes looking as though fire were within them, as he began to block the laser that shot out at him with the battered shield. Then, using his free glowing arm, the gundam threw a punch with enough force that it cancelled the laser out entirely. The momentum was so strong, it sent the enemy invaders flying back into that portal and hopefully back to where they came from.  
The glow faded, and with it, the band also quieted. She still couldn't believe her eyes; Captain activated the soul drive at last, but how? Why now? Her gaze fell to the child, who was happily cheering on the victory; could he be the reason? But how could that be-? Sighing, Haruko opened up her communicator, which would automatically tell of her coordinates.

  
"Chief, I've located Captain Gundam, he's managed to activate the soul drive and defeated the enemy forces." she reports, "Returning to base now."

  
She hung up without another word, and quietly walked back to the shortly-abandoned motorcycle. She hesitated as she glanced back at the two, gunperries soon in sight to return Captain to the base, and sped off. She'd definitely be getting a talk from the chief, but that wasn't on the forefront of her mind right now. Captain succeeded in activating the soul drive now, with the presence of a child that was never involved in previous tests. She definitely had a lot to do when she got back to the base, to try to understand why this happened now of all times.

  
Oh well, such was the life of a mechanic working in the Super Dimensional Guard.


	2. Activation

“This is definitely going to take a while…”

  
Haruko watched as the data began to pour onto the monitor before her. Finally, she was back in her workshop within the S.D.G. Base after that long night of searching for Captain and fighting the invaders. Not too far away, a blue and white mech was seated, parts of his head and his chest compartment having been opened. Wires were plugged in wherever they were needed, and hovering above a platform-like structure in the gundam’s chest cavity was a green-tinted glass orb, a small flame resting in the center as two brass rings circled and rotated around the orb like electrons in an atom. This was Captain’s soul drive, the very thing which allowed him to defeat the Dark Axis invaders the night before.

  
“Still, it’s so hard to imagine. You finally got it working…” she continued on, glancing to the gundam as she took a seat in her own chair. Though, worry crossed her face, mixing with a look of curiosity when he didn’t answer. “You’ve been awfully quiet today, Captain.”

  
“Am I?” he answered, mouthpiece lighting up with a yellow glow as deep blue, unblinking optics finally looked to the mechanic, “I…hadn’t noticed.”

  
“Yep, not hard to tell either. You’re still thinking about what happened back there, aren’t you?” she grinned, “Don’t worry, I know all about that kid. I was there tossing rocks at the foot soldiers.”

  
“You were?” Captain raised his head a bit in surprise, and it genuinely did look like he was by the revelation despite not being able to emote like a human could. “I think Shute may have something to do with the soul drive, somehow…”

  
Haruko watched as the gundam she helped to build fell silent, his gaze falling to the floor - or perhaps the soul drive hovering just in front of his face. Captain had every right to be concerned, too - could they really afford bringing a child into all this? Her mind went back over the events of the battle; that boy, Shute, went in willingly to help Captain. Then calling him “Mr Classified Guy”, did he meet Captain before?

  
“Sooo…How exactly did Shute get a hold of your shield, anyway?” she asks, and the gundam’s attention returns to her. He began to explain what happened, and it all began to click. The boy was already at the scene of the first attack when Captain got there, alongside the two police bots. Had the mech been any later, Shute would have been turned to stone by strange bug-like robots, as Captain rushed in and grabbed the kid, moving him to a safer place. A battle with the same crimson cyclops robot from before was quick to ensue, but it wasn’t long before the laser was sent out.

  
Shute was in direct line of fire and there was no time to move him, so Captain had no choice but stand there and try to block it. He succeeded in keeping the boy safe, but shut down as a result of the damage. When he went back online, he found himself in a workshop of some sort, and must have crashed through the rooftop. Shute was there, having repaired enough of the damage done to get him working again.

  
Haruko listened to the gundam carefully. Honestly, the story was giving her the biggest case of déjà vu she ever had. It reminded her all too well of an event she was aware of from two years ago; a peasant girl found a knight who had traveled to an unfamiliar land, and helped him. In return, the knight later protected her from those who wished to harm her, and then he was gone after. Even so, the peasant’s life was thwarted because of that fateful event; would this be the same case? Even more so, could they really allow a child to be in danger like that?

  
Well, she supposed only the data she had to analyze could tell of that.

  
“…You know, as bad an idea as it may be, I think I know how to figure some of this out.” she finally responds before her arms reach up to the ceiling, stretching as she did so.

  
“You do?” Captain questioned, but she gave a quiet laugh at the gundam’s confusion, standing up once more.

  
“Well, we both want to know if this Shute kid has something to do with the soul drive, right? While I analyze all this data,” she gives a short pause, “You go see him in your civilian mode, and try to activate it then.”

  
“Are you sure it would be alright-?” he asks, but Haruko has already busied herself with unplugging the many wires Captain’s frame was hooked up to, having noticed that the data had stopped streaming onto her computer. Soon, the soul drive’s compartment was closing up, as was the opened parts of the gundam’s armor. The mechanic yawned; yep, this was definitely going to be a long day now.

  
“It might be our best bet right now.” she answers, “Don’t worry, if the Chief gets mad, I’ll take the fall for it. I mean, it is my idea after all, so go on ahead.”  
The gundam was silent for a long moment, as if he was trying to comprehend what was just told to him. Haruko had no doubts that something had changed the mech in the past day, he looked so surprised that she was going to let him act more on his own than he was able to in the recent past. She could have sworn she even saw immense gratitude creep into his eyes, too. Maybe that was it; Captain’s eyes looked full of life before, sure, but this was different. It was so much more than before, like there was truly life behind all that metal no different than that of a human. Honestly, she was glad that she programmed him to grow and change as he learned more about the world, it was the only way she could truly make his artificial intelligence sentient.

  
Finally, the gundam thanked her, and soon had disappeared behind the automatic door of her workshop. Once she was sure Captain was gone, she slumped back into her chair, letting out a sigh. Dark eyes glanced at the monitor, then closed for a moment before gazing up at the white ceiling. She definitely had her work cut out for her this time, all this data would have to be processed through an analyzer program; it was just too much to sift through manually. Hopefully, the chief wouldn’t be too mad at her for suggesting what she did, she hadn’t yet spoken to him about her unannounced leave yesterday. Hell, she hadn’t even slept yet. Maybe she should while the data was being analyzed…

  
Her eyes closed. Yeah, that sounded like a good idea, at least.

* * *

  
A beeping sound was the next thing she heard. Haruko’s eyes fluttered open, the mechanic flinching awake as she began to comprehend what was going on. Had she actually fallen asleep? She didn’t actually mean to, it was just a nice idea! Just how sleep deprived was she-? Groggily, the tired mechanic glanced at her communicator band, pressing a button to answer the incoming call.

  
“Hello? This is Haruko Zhang speaking.”

  
“Did you let Captain see that boy again, Haruko?” She flinched, eyes widening; it was the chief. He sounded even less amused with her this time compared to yesterday, as she could only have expected. Well, lying about it would land her into even more trouble, she was all too aware of that…

  
“I…Yes, sir. I let him go see the kid from before.” she answers, her tone low though free of any ounce of guilt. She had little doubt that Shute did have something to do with the soul drive, she just needed the evidence to prove it. Only problem was that the analyzer wasn’t done yet.

  
“Is there any indication that the boy causes the soul drive to activate?” the chief’s voice asked through her communicator, his tone growing irritated and even raising in volume just a bit.

  
“Well, not so far, but-”

  
“Then a civilian, and a child at that, does not need to be involved with this organization. It will only put his life in danger.” he continues, cutting the mechanic off. “Is that clear, Haruko Zhang?”

  
Haruko paused, shocked at the chief’s sudden anger. She knew it was understandable, but where was this anger two years ago-? Still, though she hesitated to answer, she eventually relented. “Yes sir, chief.”

  
“Good,” the voice on the other end answers, returning to a calm but stern tone. "Because of this and your sudden leave yesterday, you are being put on lock down for an indefinite amount of time. You will only be permitted to leave the base if you’re returning to your home or helping your father’s dojo, and in that case, you will be monitored.“

  
"Understood, sir.” she answered, just barely masking the defeated tone that began to slip into her voice. The line went dead, and she knew the chief had hung up on her. Well, as long as Captain didn’t get in trouble for an idea that was all her’s, she wouldn’t argue. In all honesty, she couldn’t, not without the proof that could justify that theory. Sighing, the young woman glanced at the monitor as the analyzer continued to run, watching as characters scrolled by. How much longer would it take? How much more time could she waste? The mechanic pauses; the chief may have forbid leaving on her own, but no one ever said that someone else could be her eyes.

  
Haruko moved the analyzer’s window to one side of the screen, opened another, and began typing. She could hear the faint alarm going off, the chief must have had it disabled in her workshop, so she knew that they must be on the attack again. She began to enter long strings of code, and eventually, a first person view of a construction site at the pier came up. She was looking at the battle through Captain’s optics, though she couldn’t do anything besides see what he saw; he was her eyes for now. It was the same leader as before too, but he had attached a strange red and black horn to a crane of all things.  
Just what was the Dark Axis leader planning?

  
She watched the screen with anticipation, irises darting between the first person view on one side and the analyzing program on the other, the latter of which growing closer and closer to completion. She saw as the crane - as well as two others that were apparently all under the Axian’s control - tried to crush the gundam. Then, the unthinkable happened again; Shute came to cheer him on, despite knowing all too well the danger he’d be in, and having no practical reason to be there other than to help Captain. Moments later, the analyzer completed its work, and the results showed that there was a change compared to all previous attempts. Seconds later, the alarm clock-like beeping returned, and Haruko watched as Captain’s soul drive activated once more.  
She was right; Shute was a necessary factor in activating the soul drive.

  
Immediately, the mechanic called the chief, “Sir! I got the results, there’s an anomaly that wasn’t in any of the tests, not even the ones Captain Gundam didn’t even know were simulations until after the fact!”

  
The chief was silent, but she knew he was there, she wasn’t going to be cut off again.

  
“It’s even activated now, and that boy is cheering him on, without any reason to actually be there.” she continues on, “If Captain is to unlock his full potential, we can’t deny what we’re seeing. The kid clearly wants to help us, and all the data as well as what I’m seeing now is pointing to him being able to activate the soul drive. I know it’s risky, and I think that he does too, but please…”

  
There was a long pause, but Haruko didn’t hang up. Eventually, as the invaders were sent back to their dimension and all was right again, she heard the chief sigh.  
“Very well, I’ll consider it. Such a result cannot be ignored.” he relents, “Keep in mind though, Haruko, your lock down remains a fact regardless of my decision on this.”

  
“But of course, sir.” she says with a smile even if she knows the chief can’t see it, “I’ll send the results to you, so you can have a look at it yourself. It may help to decide.”

  
“Very well.” he said, and with that, the call ended. Haruko had the files sent to the computer within the chief’s unit, only needing a few clicks to do so, before flopping back into her chair. Something didn’t seem right about the chief, though. It felt as if there was something more behind his reasoning, but she couldn’t put her finger on what it might be. Still, no matter how she looked at it, that anger simply didn’t add up.

  
There wasn’t much she could do about it though, she’d just have to let it be. They all had secrets, and they all had their own reasons to be as they were. Just like the peasant girl whose life was turned upside-down with one chance meeting, everything happened for a reason. This one just wasn’t obvious yet, and it may never be.

  
As long as they figured out this mystery, she didn’t mind if she did or didn’t find out, either.


	3. The Knight and The Peasant

“So, he’s allowing Captain to see that kid? Guess sending him the data payed off after all.”

Haruko had left the base for home a few hours after the last attack. It was calm, almost serene, which was all too fitting for where she was. The place she and her parents called home was also doubling as a dojo with the training area in a separate building; serenity was important for such a practice. It helped the students to focus in their training, though today was far slower than normal. The dojo itself was closed as her father had planned a special day for just him and her mother. They both needed it, really; they were too busy anymore to just enjoy themselves.

“I wouldn’t be too surprised,” the voice on the other end of her call answered as she opened the paper sliding door into the garden leading to the training area, “The chief is more reasonable than you give him credit for.”

“I know, I know, but something felt so off. You should have heard him!” she answers, “It was more than a simple stern lecture or even an angry order…It was as if he knew more, something that I don’t.”

“Hmmmm…I can’t say I know for sure. Things like that are just as classified as Captain’s mere existence, if not more.” There was a pause from the voice on the other end before they continued on, “Have you heard anything about him yet? It’s been two years…”

“Yeah, I know it’s been two years.” she says with a sigh, “Only vague descriptions and blurry photos that are way too hard to tell. Nothing substantial enough to say someone spotted him.”

“Odd…I wonder why he went into hiding? I would have thought he’d want the S.D.G.’s help with his mission.” the voice says, but pauses, almost as if something caught their attention. “I have to go, the mayor is needed for some last minute details for the Peace Park statue. I’ll let you know if I hear anything.”

“Right, thanks Prio. I swear, I’ll go nuts if this boredom keeps up!” she answers, and the line goes dead moments later. Letting out another sigh, she plops down on the wooden bench in the center of her parents’ garden. It’s barely been a day since the chief put her on lock down for disobeying orders and leaving the base unannounced, and already she was bored out of her mind. There wasn’t anything to be built or analyzed, and she’d already done plenty of training just a bit ago. No word from the chief as to how long this would last either, and as far as she knew, there was no attack from the Dark Axis yet. Not even Captain’s soul drive showed any sign of activity. Maybe she should go for a ride, her motorcycle was here…

Well, it was a better way to deal with the boredom she had been dealing with.

With that, Haruko stood and headed back inside her home; no way was she going to be without her blaster this time, even if it was more out of precaution than anything. She had no idea if there’d be another attack from the Dark Axis again today, and if there was, there was no way that she was going to consciously be that defenseless again. Grabbing the dark grey weapon in its holster, she left the house and headed right for the bike. Clasping the belted holster to her waist, she was quick to get on the vehicle and speed off within a few moments, a roar from the engine in her wake.

At least it was a relatively nice day, common for the huge ‘Utopian’ city. It didn’t rain too much in Neotopia, or perhaps she never payed it any mind these days; it seemed to a lot more when she was younger. The wind going by as she drove was nice at least, air blowing through her wavy dark hair and all around her with ease. It was rare that she could drive around like this without any sense of urgency, not since she joined the S.D.G., but the events of the past few days still hovered in the back of her mind. The chief had actually approved Shute to be involved in all this, was he planning on bringing the kid into the S.D.G. if it was more necessary than not? She supposed it was the only logical thing to do at this point, as it wasn’t a normal circumstance, but it felt too familiar to her.

She rode around for a while longer, but she knew the calm tranquility of the day wouldn’t last. Her gaze went to the sky; she could see the re-equip ring, a device Captain used to get out of his civilian mode when an attack was in place, hovering high in the sky. No doubt, there was an attack going on right now, and he was being called to action. She went to pry her eyes away from the sight, knowing she’d get in deeper trouble if she disobeyed orders again, but a far stranger sight caught her gaze. It was a human-sized kite, with someone strapped to it and piloting it as if it was a plane. Wait, wasn’t that Shute?! Her mouth fell agape, and her heart sank when she spotted another child clinging to the cord attached to the kite for dear life. She recognized the long golden hair anywhere, that was the mayor’s daughter.

Screw her orders, she needed to get both Shute and his friend to safety.

Haruko revved the engine of her bike, speeding into the direction the kite was headed, her gaze switching between it and the road ahead. This time, she at least wouldn’t be so defenseless, but no doubt would she be hearing about this later. What else was she supposed to do? There was a civilian outside Shute in danger, she’d be acting no different regardless of the fact she was under lock down; standing by idly when she could be helping to keep those two kids safe was absolutely out of the question.

When she could see the enemy, the battle had already begun. Her bike came to a screeching halt, and in one fluid motion, she jumped off and grabbed the blaster from its holster. Hiding behind one of the many trees the Dark Axis likely turned to stone, she surveyed the battle. She could see a gunfight between Captain and the same red Axian as before, but there was a new one with him standing atop the swan-like ferry some meters away. He had a similar facial structure as the red one and the foot soldiers, but there was a scar-like cut where his optic met his helm, and he was mostly blue in contrast to the red one of the green soldiers. He seemed more calm too, far more observant than the red one, whom of which was shooting everything and anything like a maniac…even his own soldiers.

Seems she caught the attention of a few soldiers, however, as their singular eyes all fell on her. Unsure of where Shute and his friend may be, Haruko would waste no time in aiding Captain, until she could get them both to safety at least. Taking aim as soon as she had a clear shot, plasma-like bullets flew out at the green robots from the barrel of her blaster, one or two hitting their mark. She knew she had to keep moving, though; the mechanic rushed out as fast as her strong legs could take her, making it just outside their line of fire as their bullets just passed her by. The sound of Shute’s voice could be heard just overhead, what was this strange green goo he was shooting down at them? She couldn’t afford moving her eyes away from her opponents to look, that’d be a disaster in the making.   
Thank goodness her training made her reflexes very good.

Haruko continued to run, her feet stepping on the flora that was now no different than concrete, her eyes locked on the blue Axian. She took aim, shooting at him, but missed and only served to get his angered attention. He was yelling out at his soldiers.

“Hey, there’s some organic bug trying to sabotage us! Get it!”

Her gaze flicked away, and by doing so, she made a fatal human error. She ran by a large rock, her foot knocking against the sturdy stone, and her attempt to recover failed. Down she went, her body hitting the stone ground with a cry, her blaster being knocked out of her hand and only resting when it was a few feet out of reach. She heard Captain call out to her, no doubt concerned, but the red one taunted him and continued their battle. There was another voice too, though, as the clang of metal above rang through the air. Haruko attempted to stand, but she couldn’t. One look and she knew just what that odd goo was; a super adhesive glue. And the lower half of her left leg was stuck right in the middle of a big glob of it. She was trapped.

“Oh great, it’s you, that knight gundam from Lacroa!” the blue Axian yelled, clearly annoyed as the red one answered in disbelief.

Haruko’s eyes shot up to the sky, dark brown eyes widening in shock. Floating above them was another gundam, his knightly armor clad in pure white and royal blue, a long crimson cape fluttering around behind him. He brandished a sword and a large red and gold shield, electric blue eyes gazing down at the scene. He spoke, but Haruko’s mind remained frozen in that moment; whether he noticed her, she didn’t know. Her mind was too busy reeling back to those few days two years ago; the moment she saw the strange light in the forest just outside her house, the minutes she spent deciding to investigate and finding a strange knight-like robot where its source was, the entire night spent in the dojo as she tried to understand his meaning for being there. Then there was the fear the next day when the knight saved her life, the confusion when a strange organization found her hours after he left for her own safety, the uncertainty as their chief questioned her, and the sealed fate she now had within it. 

He was Zero; the same knight who protected the peasant girl of another realm, the same gundam she helped that hour, the same friend she’s searched for the past two years. Her mind jogged back to the moment as the knight gundam gestured to the forest; he had saved Shute and his friend.

“Zero!” she shouted out at last. She could see the shock in Zero’s optics when he saw her trapped there, an electric blue light appearing in his mouthpiece as he muttered something, but she continued on. “I know you don’t like your business mixing with your own, but please, we need your help!”

She would have said more, but she flinched away when the blue Axian landed right in front of her, calmly waiting as a soldier replaced his arm that Zero must have knocked off. The ferry being controlled by a strange horn on its head began to walk towards Captain and the red Axian, who she could now see was trapped just as she was. The calm one seemed completely unfazed as he aimed the one arm at them, the sword aimed right by her neck. Judging by his comrade’s panicking, she guessed that it was a missile in his arm. Could he really be so heartless as to be willing to sacrifice his own ally, just to defeat them? The missile was shot, and try as Captain might, it dodged his bullets as if it had some sort of homing AI.

“Captain, you’ve gotta get yourself out of there!”

She could barely move as she heard the boy’s voice yell out and cheer Captain on, only just being able to see the two kids from the corner of her eyes, surrounded by an all too familiar barrier of light. Good, so he really did keep them safe when she couldn’t. Still, she was frozen once more, this time in mere fear that the wrong move would mean her end. Thankfully, the Axian’s back was to her, or else he’d see just how scared she was; she hated this feeling. Her attention pulled away from them, the familiar alarm sounding off and surprising the blue Axian, the glow returning to Captain’s arm once more as the soul drive activated. Taking the red beam saber in his hand, the gundam used it and the power from the soul drive to drill until he was free, as well as the red Axian in the process. 

He was able to dodge the missile that had been headed right for them, but Haruko couldn’t let out a sigh of relief just yet, the blade was still at her neck. She heard as Zero began an incantation, a glyph of runes and odd symbols appearing overhead. Haruko ducked as a tornado-like gust of wind blew by, sending the Axians back through the gateway above from which they came. Had she not been glued to the ground, she’d likely end up joining them; the one good thing that came from being literally stuck there. Another invasion on the city had been avoided, and once the air was calm, she finally let out a sigh of relief. Haruko moved to get herself free, ripping the lower half of her pant leg that was glued down off to do so. As she could stand once more, Zero approached her and landed.

“I did not think these would be the circumstances under which we’d meet again.” he says, “I trust you are not harmed?”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing I can’t handle!” she says with a large grin, “I’ll be fine-”

She was interrupted by a call, the chief no doubt. Right, she was gonna get an ear full now, but she supposed there was no avoiding it. Though she didn’t want to, she excused herself as she grabbed her blaster off the ground, putting it away as she stepped from the knight gundam. Answering the call, she began to walk back to where her motorcycle sat, waiting to be used again.

“Weren’t you supposed to be on lock down, Haruko?” He sounded more exhausted with her antics the past few days than anything. Not that she could blame the guy, in all honesty.

“I know sir. I wasn’t actually planning on going to the site of this attack, I was on a ride and, well…” she pauses, “I saw both Shute and the mayor’s daughter in danger, I tried but couldn’t force myself to stand by.”

“Whatever your reasoning may be, you need to return to the base.” the chief’s voice said, “Kao Lyn just finished fixing all the mechanical damage that the construction and police robots suffered in the first attack, he needs you to go through their AI and fix any damage there.”

“Understood. Just let me get a change of clothes and I’ll be there within the hour.” she answers, and the line goes dead. 

The mechanic glances back over her shoulder as she continues to walk. Zero was acting like his knightly self and making sure the girl was alright, acting like someone right out of a medieval fairy tale. Shute seems to spot her, and goes to run in her direction, but Captain stops him. He probably knew she had work to do, but what did Shute want to say? Maybe she’d find out another day. She may not have gotten to talk to any of them much, if at all, but she’d be fine if she knew they were all safe. Hopping back onto her motorcycle, she drove off. There was a lot of work to be done, all over again, once she got back to base.


End file.
